1043. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the position regarding any engagement he has had with IDA Ireland on the practice of companies hiring employees under self-employment contracts that minimise their employment rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61928/26]

IDA Ireland has no statutory role in relation to employment rights at its client companies.

Ireland’s employment rights legislation protects all employees who are legally employed on an employer-employee basis.

A number of statutory bodies have functions that include the determination of an individual’s employment status. Each body exercises its statutory functions independently and makes determinations for the particular purposes within its remit. The Office of the Revenue Commissioners is responsible for determining a worker’s employment status for taxation purposes, while responsibility for determining status for Pay Related Social Insurance purposes rests with the Department of Social Protection.

The Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) are independent statutory bodies under the aegis of my Department. Where a person considers that their employment rights have been infringed, it is open to them to submit a complaint to the WRC under the relevant legislation. In the context of such proceedings, the question of whether the person is an employee for the purposes of employment rights legislation may fall to be determined as a preliminary issue by the WRC’s Adjudication Service and, on appeal, by the Labour Court.